Pianist O’Conor shares dialogue with Maine> Irish Chamber Orchestra players volley musically

It wouldn’t be fair to say that John O’Conor seems to become the instrument itself when he plays the piano, which the Irishman did Wednesday night with the Irish Chamber Orchestra at the Maine Center for the Arts. That would actually be too simple a description.

What happens between O’Conor and the piano is much more giving — something along the lines of a dialogue rather than a mastery. Although O’Conor is clearly a master musician, his relationship with the piano is more of an exchange than a taming. He gives to the piano, the piano gives back, and the world is a better place because of it.

It’s unlikely anyone listening to O’Conor perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major could walk away unchanged. With the accompaniment of the all-string Irish Chamber Orchestra, O’Conor seemed to be playing a plucky match of tennis with the others on stage. Here’s a graceful lob in the Allegro vivace. Here’s a luscious volley in the Andantino. And there’s the Allegro ma non troppo — elegant, bold, and entirely winning.

Between O’Conor and his musical teammates, this was the type of classical music challenge that leaves you no room to think of anything other than every distinct and abundant note. O’Conor’s phrasing was nothing short of poetic and, with his delicate technique, gave the evening a fullness and soulfulness that was both comforting and provocative.

Although O’Conor has an unmatchable spirit and skill, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, which was formed in Dublin in 1970 and is led by Fionnuala Hunt, held forth in a program of intelligent complements. Serenade for Strings in G Major, a neoclassical piece by Swedish composer Dag Wiren, was exacting with subtle crescendos and a serious clarity of sound.

The attention to detail on the part of this young group was nearly military, with tones as tiny and as fleeting as flickers of sunlight on water.

Dekatriad for Thirteen Solo Strings, by contemporary Irish composer Raymond Deane, was unsettling and chaotic with its atonal, screeching notes and clicks of percussion on cello. Cerebral and modern, Dekatriad throbbed madly, like a heart in distress, and led seamlessly to Antonin Dvorak’s intricately joyful Serenade for Strings in E Major, Opus 22, in which the group found its richest and biggest sounds.

In an encore, the orchestra, most of whose members stand throughout performances, gleamed through John Larchet’s “MacAnanty’s Reel,” adding a traditional Irish drum and ending the concert on a heel-kicking note.